33 ms·

Spend the Summer at Lightspeed

84 points by pushpins 15y ago

pushpins 15y ago
We participated last summer. Being an east coast startup, it gave us the chance to get a great feel for startup life in the Valley, prove out our model, and build a beta version of our iPhone app which we launch in November (www.bit.ly/IHeartPushpins). Most importantly though, I learned more from doing the program than any summer internship I ever had. If you want an honest review of the experience, shoot me an email jason@pushpinsapp.com.
znt 15y ago
Wow this sounds too good to be true. What's in it for them? Are we obliged to give them our first born son or something?
- pushpins 15y ago
  It honestly is a great way for them to learn about what's going on out there and meet some up-and-coming entrepreneurs. Whether it is this company or the next, it gives them a chance to build a relationship with great founders.
- rms 15y ago
  You're basically obliged to let them invest in you if they want to and you are raising an institutional round, and if you do this program and they don't invest in you that is a strong negative signal that will leave you basically incapable of raising institutional investment. But free money is free money, if you get into this, do it in a heartbeat.
  - dfield 15y ago
    Not true at all. I was an intern with Indinero when they went through this program and its purpose is for Lightspeed to get to know young entrepreneurs and improve university relations.
  - danlamb 15y ago
    Not true. There was no binding obligation whatsoever.
dnsworks 15y ago
It's getting awfully bubbly in here. Sure, we give it away for free, that's OK, we'll make it up by volume .. huh?
bradly 15y ago
Fyi... "Each team must include at least one student (graduate or undergraduate in Engineering or Computer Science) who was a full-time student in the 2010-2011 academic year."
- phwd 15y ago
  Is it only Electrical Engineers or all Engineers ? Must an engineer (CS or EE) be on the team? Does the engineer have to be a student? EE stands for Electrical Engineer or does that encompass SE and CE as well ?
  - mey 15y ago
    EE is generally separate, and when I went to school 7 years ago, my college was just starting it's CE program, and didn't have an SE program. Edit: Implying that they may not have an CE or SE program (didn't look)
  - pushpins 15y ago
    This should help clarify. You need one engineer, but they do not have to be a student. · Each team must include at least one individual who was a student (graduate or undergraduate) in the 2010-2011 academic school year · At least ONE member of the team must have a degree in Computer Science or Engineering
- phlux 15y ago
  hmmm. Where can I get my hands on some fresh students!
- magsafe 15y ago
  This student requirement seems a bit weird, arbitrary, and makes me question their agenda. Are they doing this to truly support hot new startups, or are trying to to encourage some kind of academic accomplishment? I know lots of great founders who would love to apply, but have been out of school for a few years so they're ineligible? wtf. As far as I can see, the FAQ doesn't address what's up with the full-time student requirement thing.
adelevie 15y ago
This seems like a good incubator but the title is way off. An incubator's value is much more complex than (dollars) + (office square feet) - (equity %). Ask almost any successful founder from an incubator such as YC or DreamIt, and they'll tell you the equity percentage is easily worth the benefit. In fact, the percentage can easily increase the total value of the company. When Paul Graham/Ron Conway/Yuri Milner are financially motivated to see you do well, the intros and connections these guys make are priceless. Just see how Paul Graham went to bat for AirBnb when he tried to get Fred Wilson to invest.
- malandrew 15y ago
  I agree completely. It completely underplays the value of the individual VCs and overplays the Lightspeed VC brand name. When you get into YC, you know you are going to be working directly with people like PG, Harj, Garry, Alexis, Robert M., Paul, Jennifer, and Trevor. With this Lightspeed VC deal, they just tell you that you get two partners advising you. You don't know which two. You don't know if they are VCs by trade. You don't know if they were former entrepreneurs. You don't know if they happen to be an Entrepreneur in Residence or Designer in Residence. These details matter and matter a lot. I think the best incubators and angels are those that emphasize people over money. People execute. Money just keeps those people fed and housed.
tkiley 15y ago
Wow. Lightspeed is investing a huge amount of dollars and energy in creating a viable alternative to the YC ecosystem. Seems like this it the type of act that is characteristic of a firm that is either quite visionary or quite desparate, but I'm not sure which is the case here ;-)
- ericangel 15y ago
  Lightspeed's been doing this for 5 years, and started before YC and many of the others...not a promotional firm but those guys are pretty great.
- marcomonteiro 15y ago
  I thought the same thing. The requirement for students may be a way to target those who have yet to enter the work force and even attempt to start a company. On the other hand, they're not taking an equity position? I don't get it.
staunch 15y ago
> "...each winning team receives $5,000, and each individual fellow receives $10,000..." That's going to be $25k in most cases, not $45k unless I'm missing something.
- pushpins 15y ago
  You can have up to 4 people on a team.
  - staunch 15y ago
    And you can have as few as 1, so the title could just as easily be "$15k".
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- pushpins 15y ago
  You can have up to 4 team members.
mlinsey 15y ago
What's with the editorializing in the title? In any case, taking no equity in companies is not necessarily a good way to compete with YC; in fact it makes the two programs complimentary by making it easy to do both programs, as Indinero did.
hoag 15y ago
With a headline like that, it's clear to me that Lightspeed misses the point entirely wrt YC.
jlm382 15y ago
inDinero got $35k from them, and it was everything they advertised: free office space, no equity, no strings attached. With that said, I'm very happy to have taken the dilution hit from going through Y Combinator the summer after :)
- marcomonteiro 15y ago
  If you don't mind, could you elaborate?
  - jlm382 15y ago
    Sure. Email ceo@indinero.com and I can answer questions in private.
    - marcomonteiro 15y ago
      Thank you.
- narsil 15y ago
  Wow, you are in an excellent position to describe, from inDinero's perspective, the pros and cons of Lightspeed relative to Y Combinator. Do you mind providing a few details on that? :) Is it even correct to compare the two or would you say that's like comparing apples and oranges (for whatever reason).
pushpins 15y ago
It's more than just the money and the office space, it's also about mentorship. Each team is given a partner who works with them throughout the summer. The partner helps with intros and getting you in front of the right people, vetting your pitch deck, etc. They also bring in incredible founders and mentors for lunch each week. Last year we had: - Liam Casey (PCH) - Dave Lieb (Bump) - Wences Casares (Bling Nation) - Joe Greenstein (Flixster) - Jedidiah Yueh (Delphix) - John Schroeder (MapR) - Max Simkoff (Evolv) Plus, they ran the best presentation I've seen on fundraising. It was basically the stuff that a VC is thinking, but they will never tell you.
pmichailidis 15y ago
I participated in the program last year. We collected over 35K from them had access to their complete network and were able to build out our technology for free! Amazing opportunity...don't miss the chance to apply!
andrewmlevy 15y ago
This is a great program, I did it concurrently with YC s09. They're not really an incubator - John, who runs the program, wants to give smart grads the freedom to get a taste of what its like to be an entrepreneur. Several partners act as mentors but its really about giving you the space and money for a summer to see if you can make something happen. What do they get? They get to know really smart entrepreneurs at the beginning of their career. I highly recommend you apply.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
luvcraft 15y ago
I guess I should grab one of my student friends and bring him up to speed on our project so I can apply for this! :) When you bring in someone older to make your business seem more experienced it's called a "gray hair". So what's the opposite? "Purple hair"?
ajaimk 15y ago
If only they included a dormitory to live in, we could call it the first ever Startup College
gregbayer 15y ago
Great experience: money for expenses, office space, and excellent mentorship. Like most incubators, a big part of the value add also comes from the other teams you'll work along side.
decabear 15y ago
My team did this last year, it was a great experience. While our company chose not to go forward after the summer, we all learned a lot and I'd recommend this to anyone. Next time around I'll know a lot more about what to do (and more importantly what not to do)!
danlamb 15y ago
Did this last summer. Fantastic program - was really a great opportunity and they were very, very helpful.
visualplant 15y ago
It's a generous program, and John is helpful in every way. The "at least one member needs to be a student requirement" is a mystery and can lead to glued-together teams that are truly mismatched.

84 points by pushpins 15y ago

We participated last summer. Being an east coast startup, it gave us the chance to get a great feel for startup life in the Valley, prove out our model, and build a beta version of our iPhone app which we launch in November (www.bit.ly/IHeartPushpins). Most importantly though, I learned more from doing the program than any summer internship I ever had. If you want an honest review of the experience, shoot me an email jason@pushpinsapp.com.

znt 15y ago

Wow this sounds too good to be true. What's in it for them? Are we obliged to give them our first born son or something?

pushpins 15y ago
It honestly is a great way for them to learn about what's going on out there and meet some up-and-coming entrepreneurs. Whether it is this company or the next, it gives them a chance to build a relationship with great founders.
rms 15y ago
You're basically obliged to let them invest in you if they want to and you are raising an institutional round, and if you do this program and they don't invest in you that is a strong negative signal that will leave you basically incapable of raising institutional investment. But free money is free money, if you get into this, do it in a heartbeat.
- dfield 15y ago
  Not true at all. I was an intern with Indinero when they went through this program and its purpose is for Lightspeed to get to know young entrepreneurs and improve university relations.
- danlamb 15y ago
  Not true. There was no binding obligation whatsoever.

dnsworks 15y ago

It's getting awfully bubbly in here. Sure, we give it away for free, that's OK, we'll make it up by volume .. huh?

bradly 15y ago

Fyi... "Each team must include at least one student (graduate or undergraduate in Engineering or Computer Science) who was a full-time student in the 2010-2011 academic year."

phwd 15y ago
Is it only Electrical Engineers or all Engineers ? Must an engineer (CS or EE) be on the team? Does the engineer have to be a student? EE stands for Electrical Engineer or does that encompass SE and CE as well ?
- mey 15y ago
  EE is generally separate, and when I went to school 7 years ago, my college was just starting it's CE program, and didn't have an SE program. Edit: Implying that they may not have an CE or SE program (didn't look)
- pushpins 15y ago
  This should help clarify. You need one engineer, but they do not have to be a student. · Each team must include at least one individual who was a student (graduate or undergraduate) in the 2010-2011 academic school year · At least ONE member of the team must have a degree in Computer Science or Engineering
phlux 15y ago
hmmm. Where can I get my hands on some fresh students!
magsafe 15y ago
This student requirement seems a bit weird, arbitrary, and makes me question their agenda. Are they doing this to truly support hot new startups, or are trying to to encourage some kind of academic accomplishment? I know lots of great founders who would love to apply, but have been out of school for a few years so they're ineligible? wtf. As far as I can see, the FAQ doesn't address what's up with the full-time student requirement thing.

adelevie 15y ago

This seems like a good incubator but the title is way off. An incubator's value is much more complex than (dollars) + (office square feet) - (equity %). Ask almost any successful founder from an incubator such as YC or DreamIt, and they'll tell you the equity percentage is easily worth the benefit. In fact, the percentage can easily increase the total value of the company. When Paul Graham/Ron Conway/Yuri Milner are financially motivated to see you do well, the intros and connections these guys make are priceless. Just see how Paul Graham went to bat for AirBnb when he tried to get Fred Wilson to invest.

malandrew 15y ago
I agree completely. It completely underplays the value of the individual VCs and overplays the Lightspeed VC brand name. When you get into YC, you know you are going to be working directly with people like PG, Harj, Garry, Alexis, Robert M., Paul, Jennifer, and Trevor. With this Lightspeed VC deal, they just tell you that you get two partners advising you. You don't know which two. You don't know if they are VCs by trade. You don't know if they were former entrepreneurs. You don't know if they happen to be an Entrepreneur in Residence or Designer in Residence. These details matter and matter a lot. I think the best incubators and angels are those that emphasize people over money. People execute. Money just keeps those people fed and housed.

tkiley 15y ago

Wow. Lightspeed is investing a huge amount of dollars and energy in creating a viable alternative to the YC ecosystem. Seems like this it the type of act that is characteristic of a firm that is either quite visionary or quite desparate, but I'm not sure which is the case here ;-)

ericangel 15y ago
Lightspeed's been doing this for 5 years, and started before YC and many of the others...not a promotional firm but those guys are pretty great.
marcomonteiro 15y ago
I thought the same thing. The requirement for students may be a way to target those who have yet to enter the work force and even attempt to start a company. On the other hand, they're not taking an equity position? I don't get it.

staunch 15y ago

> "...each winning team receives $5,000, and each individual fellow receives $10,000..." That's going to be $25k in most cases, not $45k unless I'm missing something.

pushpins 15y ago
You can have up to 4 people on a team.
- staunch 15y ago
  And you can have as few as 1, so the title could just as easily be "$15k".

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

pushpins 15y ago
You can have up to 4 team members.

mlinsey 15y ago

What's with the editorializing in the title? In any case, taking no equity in companies is not necessarily a good way to compete with YC; in fact it makes the two programs complimentary by making it easy to do both programs, as Indinero did.

hoag 15y ago

With a headline like that, it's clear to me that Lightspeed misses the point entirely wrt YC.

jlm382 15y ago

inDinero got $35k from them, and it was everything they advertised: free office space, no equity, no strings attached. With that said, I'm very happy to have taken the dilution hit from going through Y Combinator the summer after :)

marcomonteiro 15y ago
If you don't mind, could you elaborate?
- jlm382 15y ago
  Sure. Email ceo@indinero.com and I can answer questions in private.
  - marcomonteiro 15y ago
    Thank you.
narsil 15y ago
Wow, you are in an excellent position to describe, from inDinero's perspective, the pros and cons of Lightspeed relative to Y Combinator. Do you mind providing a few details on that? :) Is it even correct to compare the two or would you say that's like comparing apples and oranges (for whatever reason).

pushpins 15y ago

It's more than just the money and the office space, it's also about mentorship. Each team is given a partner who works with them throughout the summer. The partner helps with intros and getting you in front of the right people, vetting your pitch deck, etc. They also bring in incredible founders and mentors for lunch each week. Last year we had: - Liam Casey (PCH) - Dave Lieb (Bump) - Wences Casares (Bling Nation) - Joe Greenstein (Flixster) - Jedidiah Yueh (Delphix) - John Schroeder (MapR) - Max Simkoff (Evolv) Plus, they ran the best presentation I've seen on fundraising. It was basically the stuff that a VC is thinking, but they will never tell you.

pmichailidis 15y ago

I participated in the program last year. We collected over 35K from them had access to their complete network and were able to build out our technology for free! Amazing opportunity...don't miss the chance to apply!

andrewmlevy 15y ago

This is a great program, I did it concurrently with YC s09. They're not really an incubator - John, who runs the program, wants to give smart grads the freedom to get a taste of what its like to be an entrepreneur. Several partners act as mentors but its really about giving you the space and money for a summer to see if you can make something happen. What do they get? They get to know really smart entrepreneurs at the beginning of their career. I highly recommend you apply.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

luvcraft 15y ago

I guess I should grab one of my student friends and bring him up to speed on our project so I can apply for this! :) When you bring in someone older to make your business seem more experienced it's called a "gray hair". So what's the opposite? "Purple hair"?

ajaimk 15y ago

If only they included a dormitory to live in, we could call it the first ever Startup College

gregbayer 15y ago

Great experience: money for expenses, office space, and excellent mentorship. Like most incubators, a big part of the value add also comes from the other teams you'll work along side.

decabear 15y ago

My team did this last year, it was a great experience. While our company chose not to go forward after the summer, we all learned a lot and I'd recommend this to anyone. Next time around I'll know a lot more about what to do (and more importantly what not to do)!

danlamb 15y ago

Did this last summer. Fantastic program - was really a great opportunity and they were very, very helpful.

visualplant 15y ago

It's a generous program, and John is helpful in every way. The "at least one member needs to be a student requirement" is a mystery and can lead to glued-together teams that are truly mismatched.